I liked it, though the animation put kinda a damper on it. They improved the lighting, but the animation is still glaringly janky and I noticed a bunch of errors that I have no idea how they didn't catch (soooo much clipping). I don't know what they were thinking when they decided to have the show be made by a studio who has never done 3D animation before.
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I agree, Opaline and Misty are fun characters. I really love Misty. She has the cutest voice.
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I think Opaline gives me Tempest Shadow vibes... just the body color. Misty might be played by a child because of her voice sounding.
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Love the g1 references and some returning ones, now I hope they do g3 ponies! Though Sparky is annoying and I hope we get into more of the lore and progression of the story since right now it’s just the mane five running around
Like I said about my review on the first chapter, regardless of what I think about the show, still more interested in the toys! Though they have been lacking
Wait there was animation errors?! The lighting was actually better.
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I think Opaline gives me Tempest Shadow vibes... just the body color. Misty might be played by a child because of her voice sounding.
Yep. A good bit of twitching, missing geometry, Jazz's magical vanishing ears, and clipping aplenty. A few times, chunks of Opaline's hair wouldn't move with the rest of it.
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She does sound young, but her voice actress is Bahia Watson. She's a fully grown woman. ;)
they covered this on twitter some of the animators are new to the project and they're still learning the rigging system. they're hoping to have it better soon.
I get that, I'm not trying to blame individuals. I just think it was a very weird choice to, after the success of the movie, have a studio with little experience in 3D animation of this caliber to take on the show. There was significant improvement from chapter 1, though, so I'm really hoping they get it all ironed out by chapter 3.
Speaking from experience, it can be daunting to work in a 3d computer environment, especially one you have little to no experince in. I hope the artists work out these problems soon, because while the animation errors are understandable, theyre still very noticable and take away from the enjoyment of the show.
And now my thoughts on the show itself:
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I...really don't like chapter 2, I'm sorry. I enjoy the characters (mostly) but I really have problems with how the story is progressing. They set up for major questions and plot points (like where did sparky come from if there are no dragons in Equestria? Where did they go? Is all dragon fire special or is it just sparky? Opaline wants more power and to rule Equestria, and had a confrontation with Twilight in the past, but we never elaborate more. Why are the crystals so fickle with how their magic operates? Why does the lantern have magic now?). These are all questions I think would be excellent episode ideas, and could be very interesting to see. But in all 8 total episodes, we get barely anything, instead getting "we need to chase <item> around" or a smidgen of character development. "But its only 8 episodes" I told myself. I couldn't expect much of just 8. But then I revisited the first season of Friendship is Magic. In the first 8 episodes alone, we are introduced to nightmare moon, the conflict between luna and celestia, the elements of harmony, the grand galloping gala, griffons as a thing that exist, the idea of most unicorns only having magic suited to their talent (unless that talent is magic), a full grown dragon and a bit of dragon culture (specifically the dragons horde of treasure). There is a lot you can do in 8 22 minute episodes, and Make Your Mark instead decided to use none of the worldbuilding or questions it poses. And you can't tell me its "just for kids, so it doesn't need to have worldbuilding/questions answered" because other shows for the same age group have done it. I just feel like the show has so much potential, and the writers haven't done much with it. They traded lore and important events that move an overarching plot (which they've made clear they have with opalines quest to become more powerful) in favour of having a bunch of ponies running around.
I will admit though, I am a fan of opaline and misty *kind of*. I feel like I would enjoy opaline as a villain more if she had more to her than "I want more power and constantly berate my henchpony who I will absolutely betray at the end.". Similar arguments with misty, I feel like she truly has potential to be a great character. Her motivations are clear and she's probably going to learn a lot of hard truths about the world around her. Both characters could be great if the writers were just willing to do something with them.
Sparky though...I feel like sparky exists less as an actual character and more as just plot fodder. Sparkys sole purpose is to exist for whatever the writers need with little explanation. Need something to swap cutie marks? Sparky can do that for...some reason. Need something for the ponies to look for? sparky. I know he's just a baby, but he feels like less of a baby character we can see grow as the series does, and more as a magical plot device. You could replace sparky with a moving candle with magic fire, and get the same results.
Overall, I am sincerely hoping the stagnation of the first 8 episodes is just a team that's hesitant to take a leap, and will do more as they become more comfortable with the characters. This generation had such a great start, and I don't want that squandered away.
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Big big big step up from chapter 1 imo. The animation feels like it varies between scenes and hearing that it's made by a very new studio makes sense, albeit you do have to wonder why they'd choose a new studio with people inexperienced with 3D animation to make it?? I guess they have to start somewhere. Misty's hair appears to have weird physics in some scenes where the strands rotate or shake when they shouldn't?
I can actually believe that the mane 5 are friends with each other to start even though they're different they have good chemistry which I feel is kind of missing from G4's mane 6? The music seems to have stepped up a little when it's not just Pipp doing bland repetitive pop. Her statement "you don't have to make anything new, you just have to make the same but better" feels pretty accurate because I cannot tell the difference between the majority of her songs nor can I identify instruments or anything interesting so they all just kind of sound the exact same. The portrait day song is really nice imo
A running issue I'm having is they don't seem to know how to characterize Sunny or Zipp post-movie, Sunny just kind of winds up as optimistic the whole time which wasn't her personality in the movie (she definitely had moments where she wasn't hopeful besides the 'dark night of the soul' part) and Zipp's detective thing makes sense in chapter 1 when there's actually something happening but when she's being interrogative of Misty for acting awkward at the sleepover party it just comes across as being extremely rude and invasive. She has no reason to suspect Misty might be there to steal anything given she's just an awkward guest Izzy invited over. It makes more sense in my mind for Zipp to suspect Misty is lying about where she grew up because Izzy is being so forward and Misty is shy or was raised extremely sheltered (pretty much true).
My favourite character is shaping up to be Izzy, I get that people don't like that she's kind of similar to Pinkie Pie but I really couldn't stand Pinkie Pie in G4 most of the time and Izzy doesn't have any of her rough parts imo (annoying nonsequitors, only ever experiencing extremely loud happiness, flat personality) and I just like how Izzy is functional as a person but is still allowed to be not very smart. Misty is excellent too and I hope we see her more in the main cast down the line because she's very cute and her awkwardness is understandable and sweet
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Personally, I really enjoyed it! There were a couple of things that I didn't really like, namely Opaline feeling a little generic, characters doing/believing things that felt as though they shouldn't have logically (that was phrased strangely but words are hard), but overall, I thought it was great!
Whilst there's most definitely room for character development still, I do like the character development that we've seen so far. I love Pipp and Zipp's relationship, seeing Sunny's struggles with managing her magic, Hitch being a father and seeing how he handles it and learning about how much Izzy misses Bridlewood so much (and learning about the traditions).
I also adore Misty. I feel for her and I do hope that she ends up in a better situation in the future.
It's not perfect by any means, but I nevertheless found it very fun and enjoyable and really look forward to future seasons.